State To Buy 3,000 Acres Of Forest

Tract East Of Umatilla Is Key To Wildlife Corridor

UMATILLA — The St. Johns River Water Management District will purchase nearly 3,000 acres in east Lake County to add to the Wekiva-Ocala Greenways project.

The land will join a number of other parcels the district has purchased in recent years as part of the Wekiva-Ocala Greenways.

''It's a significant piece,'' said Bill Graf, a spokesman for the water management district. ''It's a key component to the corridor.''

The district agreed to purchase the land Wednesday for $3.3 million.

The site, which is north of State Road 44A about seven miles east of Umatilla, is largely forested wetlands. Black Water Creek extends across the tract. About 825 acres are uplands.

The pristine hardwood swamp forest is composed of deciduous, broadleaf and soft-hardwood trees. There has been no lumbering activity in the area for more than 100 years.

The water management district has put a priority on creating a wildlife corridor connecting the Wekiva River Basin and the 360,000-acre Ocala National Forest.

The corridor would protect valuable wetland habitat and natural areas that maintain water quality in the Wekiva River Basin.

In addition, the corridor will serve as Florida black bear habitat and allow the protected bear population to roam freely between the river and the forest.

There have been several other large tracts in the area purchased for the corridor in the past few years, and the purchase announced Wednesday - along with one more pending parcel - would largely complete the project.

While the purpose of the greenway corridor is to protect wildlife and natural areas, the property will also be open for public recreational use - for hiking, camping, fishing and horseback riding - once a land management plan is completed.

About $700,000 of the purchase price will come from the federal government in exchange for a conservation easement to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

On Wednesday, the water district made two other land buys in Volusia and Marion counties.

The Lake County tract is the smallest of the 18,000 acres the district picked up Wednesday with the three transactions.